I could not agree more with the letter from Mike Amor referring to Hugo Swire s extraordinary expenses claims. What is it with these people? Doesn t the bog standard equipment we ordinary folk use work for MPs?

I could not agree more with the letter from Mike Amor referring to Hugo Swire's extraordinary expenses claims. What is it with these people? Doesn't the bog standard equipment we ordinary folk use work for MPs? Is there some sort of magic receiver in them which senses it's an MP trying to use them and switches them off, so the MP absolutely must buy posh?

It's like Nicholas Winterton, who absolutely must travel by first class on the train and who tries to justify his claim by saying he has to have peace and quiet to work. My son does very important Government work when he is travelling from Wokingham to London by train, and he somehow manages to close his mind to the noise of the hoi polloi without any difficulty.

It is a mind set, that's what it is. Become an MP and you mount a cloud that lifts you gently above the rest of us. It's a good job Mike has a good down to earth attitude. He has somehow found the time to assist me in reading maps of drains and sewers in the area (riveting), using skills he acquired in the Army. I should like to state publicly how very grateful I am to him for that and other kindnesses.

Ann Prior,

75 Egremont Road, Exmouth.